Bill de Blasio at Funerals for NYC Cops Not Likely to Happen

In this December 4, 2014 file photo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at the podium when he and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, not pictured, hold a press conference to discuss the retraining of Police at Police Academy in New York City on December 4, 2014. (John Angelillo/UPI/Landov)

Stay away from the funerals of fallen cops, New York City's police union is telling Mayor Bill de Blasio and the head of city council in a campaign to show displeasure with how city leaders are treating the force.

The campaign follows harsh criticism of de Blasio by Patrick Lynch, the head of the union, who said the mayor had failed to support the police after a grand jury decided against indicting a white officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, according to Reuters.

Since the grand jury decision on Dec. 3, protesters have taken to New York streets to vent their anger over Garner's death in July and to call for reforms in how police use force.

New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association posted a form on its website, for members to sign, that requests that de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito keep away from funeral services should an officer die in the line of duty.

The mayor and other senior city officials traditionally attend the funerals of fallen officers.

The form, entitled "Don't Insult My Sacrifice", accused the pair of "consistent refusal to show police officers the support and respect they deserve."

In response, de Blasio and Mark-Viverito released a joint statement saying the union's campaign was divisive. “Incendiary rhetoric like this serves only to divide the city, and New Yorkers reject these tactics,” local media quoted them as saying in the statement.

De Blasio has made it clear that he is concerned by Garner's death and how police treat African-Americans in general. Immediately after the grand jury's decision in the Garner case, the mayor said he had warned his bi-racial son Dante to take special caution in any dealings with police officers.

Largely peaceful protests have also taken place nightly in major U.S. cities since a grand jury returned a no indictment decision after a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, in August.

The protests have intensified since the decision on the Garner case, and other police shootings in New York, Cleveland and elsewhere.

Stay away from the funerals of fallen cops, New York City's police union is telling Mayor Bill de Blasio and the head of city council in a campaign to show displeasure with how city leaders are treating the force.